I grew up learning that life is not fair and only those who kick their asses to the dawn will succeed. I used to hear all the time that I cannot count on anyone, but me. I will lose my faith in me, I will be doomed. And of course, I lost it. It might be sounding sad, but for me, it was the best to happen. Let me explain to you why.
You see, I come from a very religious Catholic family, and I consider myself a catholic too. However, I am aware of the spiritual impact on our psychology, and how the universe complexity is easily translated in merely two words: good or bad. You’re blindly embracing the good, and fearing the worse.
Moving from granted to appreciated
Now, let’s go rewind one paragraph and go back to how losing the trust in myself turned out to be the best thing that happened.
Our biggest enemies are our fears, fed by our thoughts. I thought that if I lose faith in myself, I will be doomed. I believed blindly in it, without accepting it. It was what I was hearing, so I bought it. Without gratitude. Without blessing. I took it as granted. Then I lost it. And only after that, I realised what I have just lost. I’ve reached the ground zero. And from there, I started to build—brick by brick, day by day, moment by moment. Even today, I keep growing my brick steak (which is not a wall), knowing that I will never stop because this is what we, as human beings do, build. And as builders, the main objective is to adapt our build to the environment.
There are many metaphors available to describe the growing part, and each of them reflects our vision overall at that specific moment in time. Because you see, today I used bricks and building. Back in the past, I used to hear all the time from those who I loved the most that no matter what I do, it will never amount to anything more than a single drop in a limitless ocean—a lovely metaphor speaking of inutility. Until I learnt painfully, what is an ocean but a multitude of drops?
Our words, our story
If you’re curious to discover more about yourself and how your mind works, let me tell you about the power of words, and how the words we chose to create the story we say to ourselves. I will not go into details, because a simple search on Google can provide you with more freedom; therefore, I suggest you search “NLP and the power of words”. Please do adapt this search query to your interest. What I try to highlight here is that there are specific words that use unconsciously and that determine our story path. There is a simple explanation about the power of words on Tony Robbins’ website article about changing your words, change your life – it is quick to read, and you can find there a list of words, that can give you some context.
I’m always saying that my best teacher is my environment. It’s a bit ironical because we do have the power to create our environment; therefore the first thought is that we can control our learning, which makes us our teachers – this is a story for another time.
The ultimate wish of each one of us
“We have the power, and we are in control” – right? Knowing that, we sleep well during the night, we feel comfortable and happy. Knowing that we have control over that project at work, or about that dinner, or we feel secure about our relationships and so on. Have you noticed how in most of the cases our ultimate wish targets others? How we often forget about ourselves, and that everything is within us – the power and the control of ourselves. And, once we realise it inner peace takes control, we start living in the present, understanding the power of now.
Choose your momentum
We live in challenging times within a self-centric society, in which the intention makes the difference. Make sure that you live with purpose, making the most of these pandemic times by choosing what’s right for you. And please, please do not go into that productivity rabbit-hole. Start with the words you use in the conversations with your friends, family or yourself.
